by Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
It’s no surprise that a man called Noah would be passionate about water law.
Noah Hall, associate professor at Wayne State University Law School, teaches water law, environmental law, administrative law and international environmental law; his research focuses on environmental governance, federalism, and trans-boundary pollution and resource management.
“I was drawn to law because of my interest in environmental policy and justice,” he says. “American law is something we should be proud of – our legal system, while far from perfect, protects individual rights while managing the challenges of our modern, complex, highly connected society. The law is the one of the most important and significant ways that government affects us, and the law also protects us from government itself.”
Hall previously taught at the University of Michigan Law School – his alma mater and also where he earned his bachelor’s degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
“I absolutely love teaching law,” he says. “The students are the best part of my job – they are my colleagues, clients, and friends. Seeing what they do, what they accomplish, how they contribute to our community after they graduate – it’s an honor.”
Hall, a native of New York State, once planned to become a forest ranger.
“I’ve always been an ‘outdoor cat,’ and I’m not a purist when it comes to the outdoors. I enjoy my backyard and a city park as much as the wilderness or the Great Lakes,” he says. “I love to ride my bike in the city of Detroit. I’ve ridden and raced bikes all over the country, even coast-to-coast a couple of times, but I wouldn’t trade Michigan’s mountain bike trails for anything.”
Hall clerked for Kathleen A. Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, practiced environmental and energy law in Minneapolis, and in 2001 became assistant director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. He worked in private practice, and was an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, managing the Great Lakes Water Resources Program.
He has written and spoken about protecting freshwater resources, interstate environmental impacts, climate change and water resources, the Boundary Waters Treaty, bottled water and groundwater, and more; and was quoted in an ABA Journal article, “Gulp: Litigation Won’t End the Battles Over Depleted Water Resources in Several Regions of the United States,” and in the books Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps, and The Great Lakes Water Wars, among others. His publications include the casebook “Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law, and Society,” and a Chapter on “The North American Great Lakes” in The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water.
A speaker at conferences around the U.S. and Canada, he testified in March on Asian carp and Supreme Court litigation before the Michigan Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee and Senate Hunting, Fishing, and Outdoor Recreation Committee in Lansing.
“Asian carp are a huge concern, and the fears are warranted,” he says. “Once an invasive species from another part of the world gets into the Great Lakes, it can wipe out other fish species and spread diseases. The federal government has really failed us on this issue, so we’re seeing litigation to try and force a solution.”
In 2008, he provided written testimony on “Interstate Water Management and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact,” to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee; two days later, the Senate unanimously approved the Great Lakes compact.
He is frequently quoted in the press, including PBS Newshour, Bloomberg, NPR, New York Times, USADailycut, Washington Post, Associated Press, Fox Business News, Wall Street Journal, and Detroit Free Press.
In March 2009, Hall – who founded and serves on the Board of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in TechTown, the WSU Research and Technology Park – received a WSU Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award, a stipend of $1,000 for research and recognition at the Academy’s Annual Initiation Banquet in October.
Hall and his wife Jennifer have a daughter, Ella, 6, and 4-year-old son, Miles.
“Other than family, I spend most of my time riding and racing bikes in Detroit and local trails around Ann Arbor,” he says. “I’ve started to play guitar, but I’m becoming an old dog and it’s a new trick, so I better not give up my day job.”
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